Inselkampf Community

I used to play the original Inselkampf on World 1 and then World 2 and stumbled upon this new version a couple of days ago. I only just got access to the forum today so I'm only just finding out how this differs to the original game.

Can anyone give me a bit of a fast track to the game/Server 12 and am I actually wasting my time a bit having not joined at the start? (I'm happy to play and familiarise myself with the game again).

I feel like everyone else might have been playing this for a while on the various servers and I'm a bit out of my league in terms of familiarity.

Edit: I should make clear that I have read through the forum posts and read the rules, it's more things like:
how long does newbie protection last?
Can I join an alliance?

There seems to be a winning senario?
Is there anything else you can tell me about sever 12 that would be helpful?

Is there a best way to level up quickly? I've been focusing on raw materials but it's slow going.

Thanks,

Defiant

Thanks very much Vrael,
I was just contacted by an admin earlier today and given a new island that's more developed as I just missed out apparently on getting one.

So I'm a lot further ahead than I was.

Okay, so is there a good level to get mines too before starting on other stuff?

Is it still Fortress to L10 before you can build ships?

Thanks again, I appreciate it.

Thanks!